Rick Young

Rick Young

The 2018 PGA Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., an industry showcase like no other, began with brisk traffic at Demo Day Tuesday at Orange County National GC and that transitioned right through to the show floor 24 hours later with more than 1,000 companies and a cast of 40,000 attendees over the four-day event. I failed to reach my personal best of 23,641 steps in one day at the Show but there were plenty of stories to chase down and lots of news to share.

Here are a few items of interest from early in the Show. I’ll have a full wrap next week.

*Brooke Henderson and PING agreed on a multi-year contract extension. In my annual interview with John Solheim, the chairman/CEO called it a deal, “we’re really pleased to be continuing hopefully for years to come.” Specific terms were not disclosed. Henderson has played PING equipment from her early junior golf days through all five of her professional victories. In Gee Chun, the sixth-ranked player in the world, has also re-signed with the Phoenix-based manufacturer.

*PING also announced European Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew and American Lizette Salas will make the switch into PING equipment, having signed both players for 2018. No terms again.

*Cobra-PUMA Golf and Rickie Fowler agreed on a multi-year contract extension. The deal keeps the world’s seventh-ranked player in the company’s apparel, outerwear, shoes and golf clubs and maintains him as a key resource for the brand, which relies heavily on his feedback. Expect to see Fowler in a significant promotional role for golf’s first ever smart set of golf clubs, featuring Cobra Connect powered by Arccos.

*World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els has a new golf equipment company. The four-time major champion has become a global brand ambassador for XXIO, the Cleveland-Srixon franchise seeking to make further inroads into the global marketplace after years of success in Japan. Els, 48, will carry an XXIO bag and play Srixon/Cleveland/XXIO equipment, including a Z-Star XV golf ball.

*Who deserves credit for naming TaylorMade’s new Hi-Toe wedge? According to Bill Price, senior director, putter and wedges, that distinction belongs to staff member, Rory McIlroy. “He takes a close look at the head, how it looks in the playing position then hands it back and says, ‘I love the high toe.’ There was no name for it at that point. We thought, okay, Hi-Toe it is.”

*Titleist has re-engineered its speed and distance Velocity golf ball with a softer, high-speed core and faster cover blend for 2018. The new products, now available at pro shops and off-course retail locations, come in two shades of white, orange and pink. Joining Velocity at retail is the next generation Titleist Tour Soft. The large core, ultra-thin 4CE grafted cover, with TCU process technology also features a new spherically-tiled 342 cuboctahedron dimple design.

*Callaway Golf has been all kinds of busy of late with its Rogue product launch but the Chevron brand’s golf ball franchise was also front and centre on the opening day of the PGA Show. The Carlsbad, Calif., manufacturer’s next-generation Chrome Soft and Chrome Soft X were introduced for 2018. The key message to this launch is a material called graphene, a strong but flexible nano particle material which, according to Callaway Golf, is stronger than diamond and up to 200 times stronger than steels. It’s been infused into the outer core of Chrome Soft and Chrome Soft X for the express purpose of lowering spin while adding higher speed with the driver and more distance with irons. It also maintains spin and control around the greens. The new ball already has a win. Sergio Garcia used Chrome Soft X to win the Singapore Open.

*Toronto’s Ralph Dunning, founder of Dunning Golf, has returned after a five-year absence from the golf industry to resume a leadership role with the company that bears his name. Rooted in technical fabrication, Dunning is intent on re-establishing the brand across Canada in the coming months. He will do so with at least one new alliance. Dunning and Nova Scotia’s Dormie Workshop have formed a strategic partnership for a co-branded line of products and accessories called Players Club. “I think the world of those guys,” Dunning told me in an interview. “They’ve done it right.”

*Just in time for this week’s Farmers Insurance Open, and Tiger Woods’s latest return to action, the PGA Tour struck a one-year deal for live streaming in Canada. DAZN Canada, a fledgling Toronto-based digital content brand, will add to its expanding portfolio of sports properties with early round coverage of 30 tour events in 2018. DAZN already live streams NFL games, European soccer, WTA Tennis and FIBA basketball.

*The PGA Tour, as expected, has joined forces with Greg Norman, Verizon and Club Car on Shark Experience. The connected touch screen golf cart platform will feature live PGA Tour programming and curated content for 30 events in 2018.

*Game Golf, one of golf’s leading game tracking and data/analytics products, has a new brand ambassador. The San Francisco, Calif., company has signed Sean Foley to an endorsement deal. Swing coach to Justin Rose, Si Woo Kim and Danny Willett, the Burlington, Ont., native plans to integrate Game Golf into his recently opened Foley Performance Academy at EaglesDram at Timacuan Golf Club in Lake Mary, Fla. Game Golf has tracked over 150 million shots and over 1.5 million rounds of golf in 135 countries worldwide. Foley and Game Golf will be collaborating on unique content to better utilize the application for golfer’s enjoyment and improvement.

*Jones Sports Company, makers of golf’s classic Jones carry bag, has expanded into a number of impressive new areas. The Portland, Ore.-based company has added the Co-Pilot Collection, designed for last minute, overnight business meetings or golf outings away from home; the new Field Collection, featuring a variety of multi-purpose lifestyle-based bags; a Utility Cooler; Utility Woodsman backpack and a new line of Jones Icon Headwear.

*One of the more impressive new player accessory options I saw at this year’s Show was the Weatherman golf umbrella. Not just any golf umbrella, the new product is loaded with advanced features including Bluetooth connectivity, an integrated weather app, UPF 50+ sun protection and wind resistance up to 55 m.p.h. What I liked most about the product is its easy function for use and durability, which is obvious when you see and get a tutorial on the materials and manufacturing. There are two sizes available.

*Foresight Sports spent precious little time resting on the laurels of GCQuad a year ago at the PGA Show. The company has backed up the four-camera launch monitor with the new Essential Putting Analysis for putter and ball data on the greens, along with a new multi-sport simulation platform, the GCHawk.

*Seeking to add an advanced short-game profile to its launch monitor platform, TrackMan has unveiled TrackMan 4 Performance Putting, a system capable of analyzing an entire putt from impact to finish, the data from which will help golfers improve on the greens. That includes green reading. TrackMan also has launched a new simulator division for in home or at course use.

*It seems the youth movement at the highest levels of the game has crossed over from outside the ropes to inside. Peyton Robertson, 16, already qualifies as a golf industry veteran with 10 patents and several pending. Now he has the added distinction of being one of the youngest presenters ever at the PGA Show with a new dual purpose product called Dropstick. Based on USGA proposed rule 14.3 for relief area (20 inches, no closer to the hole) and where a ball must be dropped from, Robertson’s convertible Dropstick serves as a practical measurement device for the new rule and a handy alignment rod on the range.